Insanity Speaks For the Broken Soul

Lunch was over and I was on the way to English when I say Ivy. I ran as fast as I could and semi-tackled her.

“Oh my gosh Tracy, you scared the living day out of me!”

“Guess who might be getting a scholarship? ME!”

Ivy screeched in excitement! “No way! Full scholarship? What school?”

“I don’t know yet, I have to check my emails!”

Ivy and I walked to English as we continued to fuss about my scholarship. It’s really nice knowing I’ve worked hard enough to even be offered a scholarship. I can finally pay Matt and Emma back for all these years. I sat in class thinking about where my dad could possibly be and what he was doing right now. Was he sitting around in sail doing nothing? Working on some kind of camp? Who’d know? I know what he did was cruel and he hates my guts for all I know, but at the end of the day, he’s my dad. And even though I despise him, I know no one can replace him. Not even Matt. Matt’s been a great father. He’s taken care of me just like he has with Ivy. He’s taught me bad from good, helped me when I needed it, and most importantly, he hasn’t given up on me. Even through all the tough times. I have a lot to thank for. As class was over, I couldn’t help but think of how life would be now if my Dad hadn’t hated me so much. We’d be living happily in Seattle with my mom and I’d for once be a normal kid, but hey, not everything was meant to be.

I met up with Ivy in the front of our school to wait for our mom. She was taking us prom shopping today! How exciting! We got in the car and drove away to the nearest mall! After looking through tons and tons of stores and racks, it was hopeless. We found nothing. I was about to give up. Until I saw it. Yes, my perfect prom dress, right in front of me. It was displayed on one of the mannequins for this dress boutique. We had never seen the store before so it must be new. I’m guessing Ivy found her dress as well because she looked at me and we both dashed into the store. We tried on the dresses. Mine was a perfect fit. It was a long, dark blue dress with a sweetheart neck line. The neck line was outlined with gorgeous diamond studs. Right under the bust area was two separate layers of chiffon that split down the middle to reveal of the bottom part of the dress. Each layer of chiffon was dark blue that was lightly coated with silver sparkle. The dress also had a low back which I thought would be nice for Brad. Ivy’s dress was red. Her dress was a strapless dress that was wrapped with a layer of chiffon to look like a one shouldered dress. Of course, the chiffon only wrapped the right side of her arm (with the chiffon tailing out) , but it still was able to show the short dress and a silver rose was mended to keep the chiffon in place and add a finishing touch to the dress. We both had found the perfect dress! They were beautiful…but so were their prices. Two hundred dollars for both dresses! How could we possibly afford that? We both looked at each other with a sigh and went in the dressing room to take it off.

We came out and carried the dresses back to the rack. Before we could put it back, Mom stopped us.

“What’s wrong, girls? Did the dress not fit?”

I answered for the both of us. “No they were perfect, mom. It’s just that…they were both two hundred dollars.”

Her mom smiled. “Oh thank goodness. I thought you were going to say five hundred.”

We both looked at each other in confusion. “Mom, two hundred dollars is a lot. And with both of our dresses, that’s four hundred dollars, not including tax.”

“Honey, you think I wouldn’t have saved money for a day like this? I know how important prom was for me. It was the day your father proposed to me. Prom is a day you’ll never forget, whether you spend it with your friends or with the one you love. And you need the perfect dress. Now c’mon. We are getting those dresses!”

Ivy and I grabbed the dresses and thanked our mom on the way out. Who knew we’d be getting a two hundred dollar dress for prom? I didn’t even expect to spend half the amount we paid. Then again, I am really cheap. On the way out of the store, I made contact with a man. He looked familiar. I couldn’t quite figure out who it was yet he seemed so familiar. Uncle maybe? He did resemble Uncle Dan a lot. Who knows. The man disappeared and I decided to move on since it was probably just some stranger who was looking at the posters behind me.

When I got home, I decided to call Brad. He had been bugging all week about my dress just so he could get a matching tie. I called him once. No reply. I called him twice. Still no reply. I called him a third time. Once again, no reply. It began to worry me. Brad always told me that if he wasn’t picking up his phone after three rings, it could only mean three things. One. He was taking a shower or eating. I looked at the clock. 4 P.M. There was no way he was taking a shower or eating, it was too early. Two. His phone could be dead. That can’t be it, he was just texting me about an hour ago saying he had full battery. Three. He was in danger. I freaked out. I paced myself back and forth in my room, biting my nails, tugging on my hair. What if he had gotten hurt? I sat there for a whole hour calling him and waiting for his call. Finally, my phone rang.